As midterm elections approach, UF is encouraging students to sign up with the online voting resource, TurboVote.
TurboVote partnered with UF and 40 other Florida colleges through the Florida College System.
Since UF’s partnership with TurboVote in 2012, about 3,800 students have signed up to either register to vote, request absentee ballots or set up reminders for all elections in their area through email or text message.
“Our platform was built around the idea that registering to vote and requesting absentee ballots should be as easy as using Netflix or online banking,” said Adrienne Lever, the director for strategic partnerships at TurboVote.
UF is ranked No. 2 in the country for registering students with TurboVote.
In a September email to the UF community, UF President Bernie Machen urged voters to use TurboVote.
“Fewer than half of the millennials in Florida were registered to vote in the 2010 midterm elections,” Machen said.
After users sign up with TurboVote, all required documents are mailed to them precompleted, preaddressed and prestamped. Voters then have to sign the documents and put them in the mail.
“I’ve participated in all local elections since our partnership in 2012 because they’ve made it so easy,” said Shelby Taylor, the communications director for the Bob Graham Center for Public Service.
In 2012, more than 75 percent of first-time voters, and more than 80 percent of returning voters who used TurboVote voted, Lever said.
“TurboVote makes me want to get more involved with elections,” said Abby Gears, an 18-year-old UF health science freshman.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 9/15/2014 under the headline "Students asked to sign up on TurboVote "]
